Ferenc Dávid

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Ferenc Dávid (1510 – November 15, 1579) was the founder of the Unitarian Church in Transylvania.

Ferenc Dávid (also rendered as Francis David in English) was born in Kolozsvár (known as Cluj-Napoca in Romanian) around 1510. After studying in Wittenberg and Frankfurt he was elected Calvinist bishop of the Hungarian churches in Transylvania, and appointed court preacher to John Sigismund, prince of Transylvania. His discussion of the Trinity began in 1565 with doubts of the personality of the Holy Ghost, because he could find no scriptural basis for the doctrine of the Trinity.

His antagonist in public disputations was the Calvinist leader, Péter Juhász (Melius); his supporter was Giorgio Blandrata. John Sigismund, adopting his court-preacher's views, issued (1568) an edict of religious liberty at the Torda Diet, which allowed David (retaining his existing title) to transfer his episcopate from the Calvinists to the anti-Trinitarians, Cluj being evacuated by all but his followers.

In 1571 John Sigismund was succeeded by Stephen Báthory, a Catholic, and trouble began. Under the influence of Johannes Sommer, rector of the Kolozsvár gymnasium, Dávid (about 1572) abandoned the worship of Christ. The attempted accommodation by Faustus Socinus after Blandrata's request was unsuccessful. Tried as an innovator, Dávid died in prison at Déva (Romanian: Deva) in 1579. The ruins of the prison site at Déva now hold a memorial for Dávid.

Dávid is best known among modern-day Unitarian Universalists for his often quoted statement, "We need not think alike to love alike."